Apparatus for sharpening razor blades



y 193 T. J. STEPHENS v 1,803,364

APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING RAZOR BLADES Filed Oct. 15, 1928 Patented May 5, 1931 UNITED s'r res PATENT OFFICE THOMAS J. STEPHENS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO FLOYD M- SPAINN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y:, ALTD ONE-EIGHTH TO PAULINE H. HIRSCHM'ANN, 015

new YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING RAZOR BLADES Application filed October 15, 1928. Serial No. 312,469.

This invention relates to the sharpening of razor blades which are in the form of plates of thin metal or so-called safety razor blades,

aiidbproceeds upon the principle of bringing t e her, the surface of which is of a burnishing character and has no cutting or grinding effect uponthe metal of the blade and at the line .of contact is so inclined 'or extends,in such a direction relatively to the general plane of the blade that contact between the burnishing surface and the blade will include only the extreme edge of the blade but remain in contact with a substantial portion of the length of said edge; and, having established such bearing, developing relative movement between the blade and the sharpening surface in the direction of the edge of the blade instead of in a direction interthat may be conveniently mounted to ride upon the sharpening members and interengage with the blade, to hold it against displacement from its intended relation to the sharpening members; this carriage being so arranged that it will limit fiexure of the blade to a degree which will not lift the extreme edges out of sharpening contact, and the surface upon which an edge of the blade rests when'in action being of a cylindrical nature-with its axis of curvature located re-.

mote from but parallel with the edge of the blade, so that the surface upon which the edge lies during the burnishing process is sufiiciently convex to limit contact to the extreme edge of the blade, notwithstanding fiexure of the blade, but cause such contact to extend throughout the length of the edge or at least to a substantial portion of said length during the burnishing or edgestraightening process.

The dulling of the edge of a razor blade,

ade in bearing upon a sharpening mem'-' such as results from the proper or intended use of the blade, involves displacement or overturning of the microscopic feather-like teeth of the edge rather than breaking down and wearing away of the metal of the edge, so that the best way to restore such an edge to satlsfactory condition is treating the edge with a surface that produces a burnishing or realigning effect upon the deflected portions, provided this burnishing efiect is done under circumstances which prevent doing violence to the edge. The present invention teaches a method of successfully restoring the edge, and this method involves two principal or underlying features of identification, namely, first, the simultaneous and substantially identical treatment of one entire side of the edge of the blade at one time, or such a substantial portion of the length of the edge as will prevent undue pressure and consequent tearing of the delicate feather-like projections, namely, by having the burnishing edge straight in the direction of the edge of the blade and moving the blade in this direction; and, secondly, having this-burnishing surface, or that portion of it which is encountered by the edge of the blade, curved, for instance, by designing it as a part of a cylinder whose axis is remote from the blade, in order to present a convex surface to the edge ofthe blade and parallel with the blade in order to develop contact through a substantial part or all of the length of the blade. A convex cylindrical surface generated about an axis parallel to the edge of the blade lends itself with special advantage to cooperation with a flexible blade. Flexure of the blade, when the burnishing surface is properly spaced from the means that controls flexure causes the blade to draw upon the surface until it becomes tangential at the extreme edge; and if the cylindrical surface be continued through a complete circumference, and the burnishing body be mounted for rotation, it lends itself to adjustment that will present a new'surface to burnishing position whenever the burnishing member is shifted. A further advantage of using a cylindrical burnishing body is that it serves well as a guiding and confining means for a carriage u on which the blade is mounted during s iarpening, especially when a suitably spaced pair of cylindrical surface burnishing members are employed; and this results in more arurately maintained predetermined relationship between the blade and the burnishing member or members.

In putting the invention into use, the best results are attained by holding the sharpener and the applied blade under water as the blade is reciprocated upon the sharpening surfaces; and, to this end, the construction of the apparatus lends itself to successful production from materials which are not adversely affected by frequent wetting, even if not dried after use.

In the accompanying drawing, in which the preferred embodiment of the invention, as well as two modifications, are shown by way of illustration:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete device in condition'to receive a razor blade.

Figure is a perspective view of the carriage adapted to be mounted for longitudinal sliding movement upon the sharpening bodies, and with which the blade is interengaged and held in parallelism with the sharpening bodies in the act of conditioning the edges.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan View of the carriage shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged schematic View illustrating the relationship which the edges of the blade assume to the sharpening bodies during the sharpening operation.

Figure 5 shows a modified form of the device; and 1 Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing a furthermodification.

1, 1 represent two sharpening bodies which are preferably of cylindrical form and made rotatable to bring fresh surfaces into sharpening position, although they might, with realization of the benefits of the invention in a measurable degree, be of some other form, for instance, that shown in Figure 6, whereby the sharpening surfaces at the point of contact extend in a direction with relation to the general plane of the blade that insures contact with the extreme edges of the blade. 2 represents a blade to be sharpened, the edges of which bear upon the sharpening members 1 at places in the surface of the latter which extend in such directions that one of the bevcls 3, 3, which meet to form the edge, presented toward the surface, will be slightly above the sharpening surface or a tangent of the sharpening surface, and therefore cannot act to hold the extreme edge out of hearing but will leave the edge in such bearing against the sharpening surface as will insure a smoothing or polishing effect on the edge.

" The invention lends itself with peculiar aeeaaee advantage to the simultaneous polishing of two opposite edges of a safety razor blade, as suggested in Figure 4-, it being merely required that the two sharpening members 1, 1. be spaced a suitable distance apart to enable the blade to rest on downwardly inclined portions of the sharpening surfaces.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the fact that having established the described relationship of the blade 2 to the sharpening members 1, the relative movement set up between the blade and the sharpening members (preferably by moving the blade while the sharpening members remain stationary) occurs in the direction of the edges of the blade.

In order to hold the blade against displacement from its described relation with the sharpening members, a carriage 1: is mounted for reciprocation longitudinally of the space between the sharpening members, and this is conveniently mounted for sliding move ment directly upon the sharpening members by construciing the carriage of a pair of slideshoes 5 recessed at 6 to conform to the i surfaces of the sharpening members and united by a reach 7 which constitutes a supporting bed for the blade 2; said reach or lied being provided with positioning lugs 8 which extend upwardly from its surface at dis ances apart appropriate to the distance bet ween the conventional openings near the ends of the razor blade; and said shoes being further secured in their spaced relationship through means of a strut 9 arranged in a vertical medial-plane beneath the reach or bed 7 Lugs 8 are conveniently provided by forming them as projections upon the shoes 5 and causing them to extend through the reach 7 in the position shown.

As a convenient means for rotatably mounting the cylindrical sharpening members 1, they may be confined upon tubular cores 1a secured at their ends in connecting yokes 10. The cylindrical sharpening bodies 1 need not rotate during a sharpening operation, rather are they held against rotation by frictional contact with the concaves 6 of shoes 5.

With sharpening apparatus as described,

it is merely necessary to place the blade upon the bed 7 with the openings in the blade engaged over the lugs 8, and then by bringing the finger into frictional control of the blade,

causing the blade with the carriage to slide from end to end of the space bcilween the sharpening members, which movement will substantially as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, the blade can very readily be picked up for reversal in position or removal from the sharpening device, by merely bearing on one-overhanging end of the blade and causing the other end to rise in a Convenient position for picking it up.

Preferably, the plane of the bed 7 is slight- 1y below the horizontal plane of contact of 10 the edges 3, so that the blade flexes slightly members 1a may be stationarily related, for

under pressure of the finger during the operation of reciprocating the blade and carriage, but the bed limits fiexure to a degree which will avoid bringing the bevels into bearing and lifting the edges out of contact.

As shown in Figure 5, if the feature of bringing new sharpening surfaces into sharp-' ening position is not desired, the sharpening instance, by making them of one integral structure. As shown inFigure 6, the sharpening surfaces might with some measure of success be provided by beveled surfaces 1?; on the united sharpening members 10.

Preferably the sharpening members, or those portions thereof which provide the sharpening surfaces,-will be made of glass. I have found in ractice that glass of the so-called pyrex or highly resistant species, serves well. the lpurpose intended.

By placing t e sharpenin apparatus in the palm of one hand and su merging it in water with the back of the hand downward and the blade in place, one finger resting over the central perforation of the blade and pressing only sufliciently to flex the blade in contact with the bed of the carriage, will enable the user to reciprocate the blade upon the sharpening surfaces whilef submerged. Obviously, if either-of the forms shown in Figures 5 and 6 are used, theywould best be molded out of a single integral piece of glass which will resist any influence by the water; and even when the apparatus is produced with rotatable cylindrical sharpening members, it will not be adversely. afiected for the reason that the cores on which the glass cylinders are rotatably mounted, the yokes at their ends which unite the cores to fix the cylindrical sharpening members in alignment a proper distance apart and provide the limit stops for the carriage, and even the carriage itself as well as the means employed for permanently uniting the separately formed parts, are all made of waterproof substance, celluloid and cement used for uniting parts of celluloid being found to serve successfully for the purpose.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for sharpening two-edged razor blades, comprising a pair of cylindrical sharpening members spaced apart a distance somewhat greater than the width of a blade to be sharpened, and a carriage located between said members mounted directly upon them and adapted to hold a blade with its.

direction of the axes of the sharpening members.

2. Apparatus for sharpening razor blades, comprising a pair of spaced cylinders, and a carriage located between said cylinders and movable in a direction parallel with the axes of said cylinders; said carriage having faces through which it supports itself directly upon the cylinders and being constructed with a bed for the razor blade, and means for engaging the razor blade while resting upon said bed. i

3. Apparatus for sharpening razor blades, comprising a pair of spaced cylinders, and a carriage mounted between said cylinders and movable in a direction parallel with the axes of said cylinders; said carriage consisting of shoes concaved to enter into bearing relation upon the cylinders, a reach unitin said shoes and forming a bed for the razor blade, and means for engaging the razor blade While resting upon said bed, comprising lugs projecting from said shoes, through the reach, and extending above the bed formed by said reach.

4. Apparatus for sharpening two-edged razor blades, comprising a pair of spaced cylindrical sharpening members, a carriage mounted upon said sharpening members in the space between them and movable thereon in a direction arallel with the axes of said members, said carriage being adapted to receive and hold a razor blade with its edges parallel with the direction of movement of the carriage and in bearing relation upon the sharpening members, and yokes uniting said cylindrical sharpening members and forming end loops for arresting the movements of the carriage.

5. Means for sharpenlng two-edged razor blades, comprising a carriage constructed to receive and hold such a blade, said carriage being constructed on its opposite faces with bearings for the reception of a pair of sharpening cylinders in position to receive the edges of a blade supported by the carriage; a pair of sharpening cylinders adapted to and spaced apart by said carriage in positions of substantial parallelism, and supporting said carriage with freedom of movement through the length of the cylinders; and means engaging with said cylinders and holding them in thestated relationship to said carriage.

6. Razor blade sharpening means as described in claim 5, in which the carriage has a blade supporting surface and blade engaging projections adapted to hold a. blade against displacement in the plane of the blade upon said surface said surface being loblade when resting unfiexed upon the cylind ers, but being in a position to limit fleXure of the blade and determine the relation of the extreme edges of the blade to the surfaces 5 of the cylinders when the blade is depressed below its said normal plane.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 28th da of September, 1928.

' THOS. J, STEPHENS. 

